Action Comics Vol 2 23.2: Zod

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"Zod": As a boy, Dru-Zod had loved monsters - which was unfortunate, because his father was a scientist who raised monsters for dissection. His attachment was a problem when it came time to pick them apart. On one occasion, one of the creatures was particularly dang

Appearing in "Zod"

Synopsis for "Zod"

As a boy, Dru-Zod had loved monsters - which was unfortunate, because his father was a scientist who raised monsters for dissection. His attachment was a problem when it came time to pick them apart. On one occasion, one of the creatures was particularly dangerous, and his father explained that as the population of Krypton continued to expand, colonization would be necessary in the more dangerous areas of the planet, and a dangerous and deadly creature native to that area would need to be understood for everyone's safety.

However, Dru-Zod's father had not accounted for his own family's safety, when much larger creatures began to tear their mobile lab to pieces. The boy had never known his parents to be particularly forthcoming with emotion, but on that day, his father had held him, and whispered prayers to Rao. He knew, then, that his parents would not survive.

One year later, brothers Jor and Zor-El were surprised to pick up a distress beacon while Jor-El was on his expedition for his summer science studies. Once they had found it, the mission had changed from one of scientific discovery to a search and rescue. They soon discovered the wreck of the Zod family's lab, and with it, the violent creatures of the area, who attacked them both. They were surprised, though, when they were saved by young Dru-Zod, who had apparently survived solely on his own.

Within fifteen years, Zod had become a colonel in the Kryptonian military, and he had grown to resent Jor and Zor-El for their cavalier attitude toward him. He felt they considered him a good story, and failed to take him seriously. Zod was concerned about the potential of an attack by the violent Char - a race that hid a mere orbit away, after Krypton had fought them back over twenty-seven years.

He could not understand why the people of Krypton would celebrate the victory with revelry rather than vigilance. Jor-El admitted that it was because their generation had not been raised to worry about their own safety. Zod pleaded with him to join him in training along with Faora and Angar, but Jor insisted that he was a man of science, and not battle.

Their discussion was interrupted by Zor-El, who took Zod aside to inform him that the island Zod was found on had finally been sterilized. A Bandcast Studio would be built there by the next year. Unfortunately, all that would remain of the native species would be a sparse smattering.

Two years later, Zod had been pleased to find two loyal lieutenants in Non and Faora. Together, they had gathered a group of soldiers who shared their belief that the old ways needed to return. Their conviction was strong, and Zod had grown to admire Faora's blood lust, because it brought him back to the way he had felt on that day when he had lost his parents. After all, he had always loved monsters. Monsters force one into action, to show one what is possible, and to make those who fight them great.

When the Char returned, Zod, Non, and Faora defeated them and won the loyalty of the unprepared Kryptonian citizens. They led drone strikes against the Char's home planet, practically wiping them out.

One day, Jor-El called Zod to meet him, under the pretense of being his brother. The brothers had not been on good terms since the abduction of Kandor by Brainiac. Consumed by horror at Zod's actions of late, Jor-El lost his composure, and threw a punch at Zod, only to be berated for having flouted the opportunity he was given. Zod had spared him from the seditionist camps for Zor-El's sake, but assaulting a general would be considered treason. Coldly, Jor-El had responded that there was only one traitor in the room, and it was not he. With that, Zod found himself with the guns of the Kryptonian guard pointed at him.

At the trial, Jor-El explained how the monster that attacked and killed more than ten thousand of their fellow citizens was not of Char origin, but was a hybrid created using material stolen from Zor-El's laboratory. Zod had engineered the war against the Char in order to feed his own obsession. With Jor-El's testimony, the Kryptonian Science Council sentenced Zod and his followers to be exiled to the Phantom Zone forever. Zod's final words to the Council were that he would always be their monster.

All those years ago, when the creatures had attacked his family, it was not the creatures who took Zod's father. His mother was killed, and his father had urged him on to escape. Knowing it would buy him time, Zod had thrust a wooden stake into his father's brain, and let the monsters eat him as well, while he escaped alone.

As he was taken into the Zone, Zod could see on his enemies' faces that they understood. He would turn their fear into action. He would show them what they were capable of. He will make them great. And because of that, Krypton may have a chance to survive - until they need him again.